Chapter 36: Fly Me to the Moon
She stepped out of the shower wrapped in a white towel and sat down on the bed to take in the moonlight, soft and faint, brushing against her skin still tender from the coin's explosion. All that blood, dirt, and sweat were finally gone. She was clean now — but she still felt dirty on the inside.
Her eyes settled on that silver satellite, streaked with pastel colors against a dark sky filled with gray clouds. It looked like something out of another world entirely; it eased her despair a little, but whatever sat lodged in her chest, heavy as a great stone, was still there, throbbing like a dying heart.
With a long, exhausted sigh, she let herself fall backward onto the bed. She closed her eyes there — but a knock at the door interrupted her. She turned toward it, her body shuddering with fear. After what that blonde girl had told her, she'd started to believe that wretched cult would show up to drag her away.
Cautiously, she grabbed the revolver from her pile of dirty clothes and walked toward the door. Gripping the handle, she asked:
"Who is it?"
"It's me. Evelyn," said Thieving Cat from the other side. "Sorry I took a while, but I came to drop off your bags. I'm guessing you don't have anything to wear right now. Are you naked?"
Relieved by that ridiculous comment, though not entirely at ease, she opened the door a crack and peeked out. Evelyn stood there in fresh clothes, though she looked exactly the same as always — just without her hat.
"You're not naked… more or less. Can I come in? It's cold out here."
Without a word, Bonnie stepped aside and let her in. Thieving Cat stood in front of the bed for a few seconds after walking through the door.
"I'll leave these here."
She set the bags down beside the bed and stood there staring at the floor. It was obvious she wanted to talk — but Bonnie wasn't sure she wanted to relive every detail of what had happened at the circus. Tonight, all she wanted was to think about nothing but the moonlight in the quiet of this room.
But Evelyn was Evelyn, and nothing could stop her. She was a free soul who did exactly as she pleased — so in a sudden move that Bonnie assumed was her way of leaving, Thieving Cat dropped down onto the bed instead, staring up at the ceiling with a dull, faded expression.
"Sit down, Bonnie. This is your room, so it's not polite to stand around when you have company. I mean, that's what they teach rich girls, isn't it?" She rolled over on the bed to look at her.
Bonnie gave in and sat down beside her. They stayed quiet for a while until Thieving Cat's voice broke the silence.
"I've been in this city before — I think you already know that. I stole a couple of things I liked, and well… the sheriff's deputies tried to catch me. In the middle of fighting for my freedom, Storm and I crashed straight into Adam's shop. Broke a ton of stuff, so I figured Adam himself would come out to chew me out — but instead, there was this little girl…"
Bonnie's eyes darkened. Evelyn kept going.
"She was adorable. She was furious, yelling at me while I was trying to get Storm off of everything. Her whole attitude was way too mature for someone her age — though I guess that's because she watched her family fall apart so young. And I get it, because any girl in that position has to grow up fast to help hold things together."
"Evelyn… stop. I don't want to hear this. I don't need to."
"You think I'm telling you this because you need it?" Thieving Cat answered with a smile. She pressed her forearm over her eyes, laughing. "Please. I'm doing this because… I need it. I should've gone to Victoria to talk about this, but I always run to her whenever things go wrong for me. She must be exhausted, putting up with all my whims…"
She lowered her arm from her eyes. A small tear sat at the corner of her eye.
"And then I thought of you. I heard you crying from my room — I think everyone did, actually… so I went and got your bags. That way I'd have a reason to come here, talk to you, and let some of this out, too…"
Bonnie looked away. Evelyn smiled, wistful, and sat up to admire the moon.
"I… just wanted to say maybe we could talk about how we're feeling about all this. Maybe that way both of us could find a little peace."
"I don't want to talk about it… I really don't. I wish I could forget everything I saw. I wish I could go back to how things were before any of this, but now I'm a criminal who can't even set foot in her own homeland. I've killed people… I've watched people die. I've seen…"
She stopped short, lifting her gaze toward the moon through the window. Strands of her hair fell over her eyes, but Evelyn could see clearly that Bonnie was fighting back tears all over again. She smiled gently and reached a hand toward the girl's shoulder.
"You've seen so much in such a short time. I understand. It's okay. So have I."
Silence. Bonnie breathed slowly. It took her a long while to settle her broken emotions, but she managed it, and looked at Evelyn. Her eyelids still trembled, just like the rest of her body.
"What should I do, Evelyn? I need to find out more about them — but… I can't do it. I'm nobody, I have nothing — but I still have to keep going. No matter how many horrible things I have to see going forward, I have to keep going. I can't just leave this where it is…"
"Well, I'm not going to tell you whether to keep going or give up — that moment's already passed. All of that is on you."
With a soft gesture, Evelyn pulled her hand back and looked out at the streets below. The rain had stopped a while ago by now. All that was left were puddles scattered across the road, reflecting the light of the moon hanging in the sky.
"You can keep thinking until you know what to do. Or you can choose without thinking it through at all. Or you can choose to do nothing. That decision is yours. All I can do is be here, so that together, we can share the weight of what we saw at the circus. I already cried and grieved enough back in that stable. My tears already dried up — but I still can't get past it."
Bonnie sat with that thought.
'Ever since I met her, she's always been someone who jokes around and treats everything with that dry sense of humor — but that's not all she is, is it? That night I saw her cry, I figured it was just from the pain. Was it something else too? If I had to find a way to describe her, she'd be like a cube. Every face she shows me is a completely different color from the last.'
One facet after another, hidden beneath layers of bad jokes and irony she usually wore like armor. Bonnie had almost forgotten that, before being a criminal, Evelyn was a person — and every person is their own world, the same way Samuel and Bonnie were.
She stayed lost in thought, in complete silence, but then…
"Fly me to the Moon…" Evelyn sang, bathed in moonlight. Her voice drifted through the room like a soft, symphonic breeze, filling the walls, echoing through the darkness.
Bonnie watched that mysterious outlaw. Thieving Cat, as people liked to call her, sang while gazing through the window at the sky, her eyes dim, but her face carrying a soft, calm expression that warmed something in Bonnie's chest.
She tightened her fist — not because the song bothered her, but because Evelyn seemed to forget everything while she sang. And that was exactly the point of singing it: to forget everything, and to let Bonnie do the same.
Evelyn kept singing.
Her song told a story about running away with someone to somewhere better. That was exactly what she was offering Bonnie right now, through that very tune.
Together, in some beautiful place free of blood and supernatural power. The two of them would simply exist there and worry about nothing at all. That was all either of them needed. So Bonnie matched the rhythm of Evelyn's voice and looked up at the moon, its light washing over both of them in the dark, making them look like a pair of fairies admiring the beauty of the night sky.
When the song ended, Evelyn said nothing more. She kept looking at the moon, and Bonnie did the same.
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Beyond what anyone else could see, Bader, the exorcist, raised a hand to his face with his fingers slightly parted and his eyes closed, praying for the victims resting on the stone altar. Their bodies had already been arranged and covered with white sheets.
"Beyond the threshold lies the true light. Guide them into the embrace of our True God, and grant them eternal rest. Let them know their deaths were not in vain."
Behind Bader, Richard and Joel waited in silence, standing with the lead exorcist through his prayer.
After a brief pause, Bader turned to face them.
"Let's prepare this place for its destruction. Recover the bodies so we can return them to their families, and finish the job by sunrise. Hand over every lead we've gathered to the city sheriff. That'll be everything."
Richard nodded, but Joel looked somewhat annoyed.
"It's always so much work, Bader. They should be assigning more support Guardians. The three of us aren't enough if something on a bigger scale ever breaks loose. Today's cultist was at the third Stigma. What does Father Michael or Sister Marie think happens when we run into one at the fourth or fifth?"
"There have been more and more cases of cultists at the third Stigma or higher. They're discovering their rituals faster every time," Richard added.
Bader looked over the remains of the cultist's robe.
"The Midnight Hunters will step in when it's needed. We only investigate and pass information up to our superiors. Today was an isolated case because we happened to be near this place — chances are, there won't be a next time for us."
Joel sighed, dragging a hand over his head.
"Sending exorcists out to investigate still feels ridiculous to me. Either way, let's just get this over with already. I'm tired."
With that, Joel headed toward the tunnel. That left Bader lost in thought, staring at the sheets in silence. Richard seemed to understand exactly what the man was feeling, faced with a tragedy like this.
But tragedy… that was all that filled Adam's mind, as he waited in the empty heart of the circus grounds, alone, in silence.
For hours.